[Newsmaker] Tokyo protests UN committee’s advice on ‘comfort women’: local report

After a UN anti-discrimination body on Thursday advised Tokyo to adopt a victim-centered approach to achieve a lasting solution on the issue of Japan’s wartime military sexual slavery, which largely involved Korean women, Tokyo’s UN mission has expressed its regret and lodged a protest with the UN committee, according to local media.　　The 18-member UN body stated that Tokyo’s efforts did not “take a fully victim-centered approach (and) that the surviving (victims) were not adequately consulted.”

Aug. 31, 2018

Libyan head of state due in Seoul for talks with Korean leader

The head of state of Libya will visit South Korea next week for a bilateral summit with President Moon Jae-in, Moon's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Friday.Fayez Mustafa Al-Sarraj will arrive in Seoul on Sunday on a three-day visit, becoming the first Libyan leader in history to visit South Korea, according to Cheong Wa Dae. (AFP)The presidential office said the Moon-Sarraj meeting will also mark the first bilateral summit between the two countries without specifying the exact date for t

Aug. 31, 2018

US extends travel ban on N. Korea

WASHINGTON -- The US government said Thursday it has decided to keep a ban on its nationals traveling to North Korea amid what officials in Washington describe as a "slow and tough" denuclearization process."The safety and security of US citizens overseas is one of our highest priorities," the Department of State said in a statement. "The travel warning for North Korea remains in place."It "strongly" warned US citizens not to travel to North Korea," citing "continued concerns about the threat of

Aug. 31, 2018

Trump sends mixed signals on military drills, blames China

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday reaffirmed his decision to suspend joint military exercises with South Korea, but also warned he could “instantly” resume the drills, and they could be “far bigger than ever before,” both appeasing and pressuring North Korea amid the stalled denuclearization talks. (Yonhap)Without directly taking aim at North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Trump blamed China -- North Korea’s biggest ally, currently engaged in an intensifying trade dispute with the US -- for a l

Aug. 30, 2018

Korean, Chinese, Japanese culture ministers meet in Harbin

Culture ministers from South Korea, China and Japan began their three-day annual meeting in Harbin, China, on Wednesday, the South Korean culture ministry said.Culture ministers Do Jong-whan of South Korea, Luo Shugang of China and Yoshimasa Hayashi of Japan will discuss ways to expand trilateral cultural exchanges and cooperation and announce a declaration for this on Thursday.The officials vowed to push for cooperation for developing the common brand of the East Asian Culture City and to conti

Aug. 29, 2018

US ramps up pressure on N. Korea

The US appears to be turning up the heat on North Korea amid stalled denuclearization talks, with US Defense Secretary James Mattis hinting at a resumption of US-South Korea military drills and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to Pyongyang being delayed.　As the US reportedly responds to a “belligerent letter” from North Korea by stepping up the pressure, prospects of negotiations between North Korea and the US appear bleak unless the communist state makes a major concession, experts say

Aug. 29, 2018

N. Korea frustrated over what steps to take next

North Korea’s silence on US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s canceled trip to Pyongyang is a sign of its deepening frustration over what steps to take next, with denuclearization talks likely to drag on, experts say. Trump canceled Pompeo’s trip to Pyongyang, citing insufficient progress on North Korea’s denuclearization and laying some blame on China, North Korea’s major ally which is also engaged in an intensifying trade war with the US.Kim Jong-un (Yonhap)A report by the Washington Post on Mo

Aug. 28, 2018

Displaying flag with Dokdo not a political act, activist tells Olympic Committee

A South Korean activist said he had emailed a complaint to the members of the International Olympic Committee about its recommendation not to include the eastern islets of Dokdo on a flag for the two Koreas to use together at international sporting events.The original mock-up of the Korean Unification Flag, which features a blue Korean Peninsula against a white background, included the disputed rocky islets in the East Sea. But Seoul decided to amend the image, using an alternative for the Pyeon

Aug. 28, 2018

Korea lodges protest against Japan’s renewed claim to Dokdo

SEOUL/TOKYO -- South Korea on Tuesday lodged a strong protest against Japan’s renewed claim to the easternmost islets of Dokdo, a long-standing thorny issue in bilateral relations.Earlier in the day, Tokyo’s cabinet adopted its annual defense white paper, including the claim, inflaming public sentiment in South Korea at a time when Seoul is seeking cooperation with its neighbor for North Korea’s denuclearization and lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.“(Our government) strongly protests the wr

Aug. 28, 2018

Canceled Pyongyang trip warning to N. Korea, China: experts

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s canceled trip to North Korea is likely to further complicate the denuclearization talks between the North and the US, and could interfere with South Korea’s efforts to advance inter-Korean relations, experts say. 　US President Donald Trump tweeted Friday that he had told Pompeo to call off his planned trip to Pyongyang due to insufficient progress in dismantling North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. 　Trump also suggested nuclear negotiations with North Korea

Aug. 26, 2018

S. Korean, U.S. diplomats discuss Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy

South Korean and U.S. diplomats held talks over Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Friday, drawing fresh attention to whether Seoul will join the new geopolitical initiative seen as targeting an assertive China.Seoul’s foreign ministry said the meeting was attended by its North American Affairs Bureau chief, Kim Tae-jin, as well as U.S.Deputy Assistant Secretary Walter Douglas and other officials.During the talks, the two sides also exchanged views about Seoul’s New Southern Policy designed t

Aug. 24, 2018

Busan to re-enact historic parade of Korean envoys to Japan in Shimonoseki

BUSAN -- The Busan municipal government will re-enact the historic parade of Korea's cultural missions to Japan in the Japanese southwestern port city of Shimonoseki this week to promote friendship between the two countries, city officials said Friday.The ritual, to be held as part of a two-day South Korea-Japan cultural exchange event, will take place for the first time since Oct. 31 last year, when UNESCO added to its Memory of the World heritage program old diplomatic records of the dispatch

Aug. 24, 2018

Seoul to open inter-Korean liaison office as planned: Foreign Ministry

South Korea will push to open an inter-Korean liaison office in Kaesong as scheduled, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday, amid concerns that the opening of the liaison office could violate sanctions on North Korea. Responding to a question on whether Seoul would go ahead with the opening without obtaining an exemption from UN sanctions imposed on North Korea, the Foreign Ministry spokesman Noh Kyu-duk said, “Yes.”“The South Korean government is pushing to open the inter-Korean liaison office

Aug. 23, 2018

[Herald Interview] ‘Forging stronger ties in diverse sectors with the Philippines’

The Philippines is one of South Koreans’ favorite travel destinations, with over 1.61 million traveling from the peninsula to the archipelago in 2017. That year, South Koreans made up the largest number of tourist arrivals in the Southeast Asian country. In addition to its touristic charm, the Philippines is also rising as a prospective country for foreign investment, with its annual economic growth at over 6 percent, according to the Korean Embassy in the Philippines. Korean Ambassador Han Dong

Aug. 20, 2018

Gangbuk First: Seoul City to invest W1tr to tackle regional inequality

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon announced Sunday that the city government would invest 1 trillion won ($893 million) to tackle regional inequality within Seoul. 　According to the plans, the city government will introduce a set of investment measures to prioritize the development of northern Seoul -- including a plan to establish four new metro lines and relocate a number of government offices to the relatively lesser developed parts of the South Korean capital. 　The announcement was made after Park mo

Aug. 19, 2018

Korea, China to resume joint fishing patrol in Oct.

Korea and China will resume their joint patrols on illegal fishing activities in the Yellow Sea in October, two years after a deadly clash between Korean authorities and Chinese fishermen, Seoul's oceans ministry said Friday.Fisheries authorities of the two nations reached an agreement in their meeting in Xingdao earlier this week to resume the joint rounds of inspections in the provisional water zone in the Yellow Sea, an area of positive collaboration between the Asian neighbors, the Ministry

Aug. 17, 2018

Korea-US trade deal termination to cost American consumers $4.6 b annually: study

WASHINGTON -- Terminating the free trade agreement between Korea and the United States would cost American consumers $4.6 billion annually, a study showed Thursday.The report by the National Foundation for American Policy comes as the two sides have yet to sign the revised version of the FTA, which went into effect in 2012. (Yonhap)The deal was renegotiated in March after US President Donald Trump threatened to pull the US out of it. He claimed the treaty was taking away American jobs and wideni

Aug. 17, 2018

Can railway cooperation materialize?

President Moon Jae-in’s proposal to set up an East Asian railroad community is not likely to gain steam without significant progress in talks between North Korea and the US over denuclearization, experts said.Moon announced the proposal to establish road and rail links across the Korean Peninsula before the end of this year and create the East Asian Railroad Community encompassing the Koreas, China, Japan, Mongolia, Russia and the US. “Beyond tackling the nuclear issue, the road map is about coo

Aug. 16, 2018

Korean hostage in Libya in good health: envoy

A South Korean man who was kidnapped last month by an unidentified armed group in Libya remains in good health, a diplomat here said Thursday after visiting the country to seek the release of the hostage.Baik Joo-hyeon, a former ambassador to Kazakhstan, also said that the Libyan government has been keeping track of the abductee’s movements and is doing its best to secure his release.“There is video footage in which the hostage appears,” Baik told reporters, as he explained the health condition

Aug. 16, 2018

Korea voices ‘deep’ regret over Abe’s offering to Yasukuni shrine

South Korea expressed deep regret Wednesday over Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s sending of a ritual offering to the controversial Yasukuni war shrine.Marking the 73rd anniversary of Japan’s defeat in World War II, Abe sent a cash donation earlier in the day, while some politicians visited the Tokyo shrine, which honors Japan’s war dead, including war criminals.  Japanese lawmakers visit the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on April 20. (Yonhap)“We call on Japanese politicians to take a sincere att

Aug. 15, 2018